The Crossed Pond

Hey, I’m trying to put some positive spin to it.

The Right’s Field is reporting that Huckabee is going to clock in at about a million dollars this quarter.

That sucks (for him, obviously). I was really thinking that maybe he was just lowering expectations. I mean, surely, with all the fawning coverage, the Iowa straw poll, a slight but significant bump in Iowa polls, that Huckabee had a good case to make to donors, and a lot of people giving him serious consideration. But apparently nobody was biting.

Mike Huckabee’s presidential effort will report having raised around $1 million in the most recent period. That number is sure to disappoint the political observers who rightly view cash-raised and cash-on-hand numbers as a key indicator of a candidate’s strength.

It’s important to remember that fundraising has never been one of Huckabee’s strengths.

The thought was that Huckabee could take his surprise second-place finish in August’s Iowa straw poll, which he claimed launched his candidacy into the top tier, and raise loads of campaign cash in September. That didn’t happen.

I still think Huckabee is a good candidate for a surprise Top Three finish in Iowa, but geez. Having a million dollars cash on hand to last him until February, when all the other candidates are going to spend that same time saturating the markets with their message, is dismal. It’s almost impossible to be competitive with that kind of money. He could WIN Iowa and still has no shot at the nomination. Sure, if he does, money will start coming in, but even then, probably not enough of it to compete as a national candidate against the rest of the field. Even winning Iowa and New Hampshire, from a purely financial perspective, might be too little too late for the Huckster.

I guess I was right in the last cattle call. Huckabee’s real game is going to (have to) be angling for a VP slot.